- Sarah Ann Whitney
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Sarah Ann Whitney (22 March 1825 in Kirtland, Ohio - 4 September 1873 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is alleged to have been a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Contents
Early life
Sarah Ann Whitney was born in Kirtland, Ohio on March 22, 1825 to Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Whitney. [1] Sarah was thirteen years old when her family left Kirtland shortly after the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society with the intention of relocating to Missouri. During this time, Sarah’s mother wrote that her children “accepted this change in their worldly circumstances without a murmur. They were devotedly attached to Joseph".[2] Upon their arrival in St. Louis, the family learned of the escalating conflicts between the Mormons and the Missourians, and the Governor’s issuance of the Missouri Executive Order 44. Sarah’s family decided to avoid Missouri, and lived temporarily in several places before eventually arriving in Nauvoo, Illinois in the spring of 1840.[3]
Marriage to Joseph Smith Jr.
See also: Joseph Smith, Jr. and polygamyJoseph Smith Jr. and Newel Whitney had a very close friendship. According to Brodie, after her parents were introduced to the principle of plural marriage by Smith, the marriage of Sarah to Smith was arranged with her parents' consent. [4][5] Compton claims this marriage is believed to have been performed for the purpose of creating a “dynastic” link between the Whitney and Smith families in the afterlife and to be “very much a family activity".[6]
During the time that she lived in Nauvoo, Sarah became very close friends with Helen Mar Kimball, who is also alleged to have been one of Smith’s plural wives according to a memoir that Kimball wrote in her later life. According to Helen, she and Sarah were like “the two halves of one soul.” Sarah’s brother Horace Whitney married Helen Mar Kimball “for time” after the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844.[7]
Marriage to Joseph Kingsbury
Nine months after her marriage to Smith, Sarah married Joseph Kingsbury in a civil ceremony.[8] This marriage was considered a "pretend" marriage according to Kingsbury, who was also later sealed to his deceased wife Caroline for eternity.[9]
Marriage to Heber C. Kimball
After the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844, Sarah's marriage to Joseph Kingsbury was dissolved and on 17 March 1845 Sarah married Heber C. Kimball "for time".[10] Seven children resulted from this marriage, two of which died in infancy. Sarah was described in Kimball's biography as "a woman of wonderful character, respected by the other wives and children. She was deeply devoted to her own children and to Heber C. Kimball."[11]
- David Kimball (8 March 1846-1847)
- David Orson Kimball (26 August 1848-16 April 1849)
- David Heber Kimball (born 26 February 1850)
- Newel Whitney Kimball (born 19 May 1852)
- Horace Heber Kimball (born 3 September 1853)
- Sarah Maria Kimball (1858-August 1902)
- Joshua Heber Kimball (born in February)
Notes
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 343
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 345
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 346
- ^ Brodie 1971, p. 471
- ^ Her own sworn statement, giving the date as July 27, 1842, was published along with a confirming affidavit sworn by her mother, in Joseph F. Smith, Jr.: Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage. It is said that she was the first woman given in plural marriage "by and with the consent of both parents.”
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 347
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 342
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 351
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 351 Kingsbury recorded the following in his diary: “On the 29th of April 1843 I according to President Council & others agreed to Stand by Sarah Ann Whitney as Supposed to be her husband & had a pretended marriage for the purpose of Bringing about the purposes of God in these last days so spoken by the mouth of the Prophits Isiah Jeremiah Ezekial and also Joseph Smith, and Sarah Ann should recd a Great Glory Honner and Eternal Lives and I also should recd a Great Glory Honner and Eternal lives to the full desire of my heart in having my companion Caroline in the first Reserection to lcaim [claim] her & no one to have power to take her away from me & we Both shall be Crowned & Enthroned togeather I the Celestial Kingdom".Kingsbury, p. 13
- ^ Compton 1997, p. 353
- ^ The Life of Heber C. Kimball, p. 419
References
- Brodie, Fawn M. (1971), No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (2nd ed.), New York: Knopf, ISBN 0394469674.
- Compton, Todd (Dec. 1997), In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, ISBN 156085085X.
- Kingsbury, Joseph, Joseph Kingsbury diary, http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/Diaries&CISOPTR=7660&REC=9.
Categories:- 1825 births
- 1873 deaths
- American Latter Day Saints
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